Honeycomb Event Scheduled for Feb. 2

Although it's known that the Motorola Xoom will launch very soon with Honeycomb, Android 3.0, there's been no detailed unveiled of the new tablet-specific Android version. That will all change on Feb. 2, a date that has been called by some as a sort of "War Manuever" by Google.

The reason for that nickname is that Feb. 2 is also the date that Rupert Murdoch and Apple will be unveiling "The Daily," the new iPad-only digital newspaper. At the same time, it's expected that Apple will detail how its new iTunes "push subscription" model will work.

However, at the Honeycomb event, which will take place on Wednesday in Mountain View, Google will have hands-on demos of the new Android 3.0 platform. The two events are staggered, but separated by an entire continent: Google's will be in Mountain View, CA, and Murdoch's in New York City. Times will be 8AM PST for Murdoch's event, and 10AM PST for Google's.

Thus, journalists will be required to choose one or the other to attend life. It is true, however, that Google will host a live stream of the event on YouTube, but it is doubtful that Murdoch will do the same, as no announcement as such has been made.

Hopefully, no one has made arrangements for a trip to New York City that they may now have to decide to switch for a trip to Mountain View. It's going to be a hard call as far as which event will be more significant for the industry.

Google's invite says:

A Taste of What’s New from Android

You’re invited to an Android event at Google headquarters in Mountain View on Wednesday, February 2. Please join us for an in-depth look at Honeycomb, Android ecosystem news and hands-on demos.

Is it war, as TechCrunch claims? We think it's already been war. In this case, as Googler Andrew Kovacs Tweeted, "actually sometimes a coincidence is just that."